Fortuna's daughter

Fortuna's Daughter is a novel by Isabel Allende about a young Chilean woman who finds herself in the " Wild West " in search of her lover. The novel topped the German bestseller lists at the turn of the millennium.

theme

The pregnant heroine follows her escaped friend to the California of the gold rush . After a miscarriage , she fights her way through a “ civilization ” in man's clothes . Realizing that her boyfriend has ruined his head, she also realizes that she has long since created a life of her own. It is a ramified family and historical epic.

Brief content

The unmarried sister of the head of the English trading office in Valparaíso takes care of a female foundling. The girl, however, shows little tendency to be a socialite and prematurely loses her innocence to a radically thinking but penniless young employee of her uncle who succumbs to the call of gold to California . She follows him as a stowaway, supported by the former ship's cook of her adoptive mother's second brother, a Chinese and widowed naturopath. He helps her over a miscarriage and initially accompanies her - even in search of happiness - into the interior of the gold rush country, where Eliza finally, disguised as a young man, struggles by herself. Her lover is soon said to have become the leader of a predatory rebel force. Eliza finds her way back to her Chinese confidante who does social work in San Francisco . News arrives that the leader of the predatory rebel force has been killed and beheaded by the authorities. Eliza goes to see the head on display with the Chinese doctor. When the doctor asks if she recognizes her lover in it, she replies without letting go of his hand that she is now free.

action

Chile 1843: A female baby is found on the threshold of the villa of the head of the English trading post in Valparaíso . The bachelor's unmarried sister takes care of the foundling; after a misstep in England, she can no longer hope for an appropriate marriage with her own children. She fends off the requests of an enthusiastic missionary and devotes herself to raising her adopted daughter, Eliza. However, she shows little tendency to be a socialite. This is also how the local cook of the girl's masters and confidants sees it, whose fortune-teller sees Eliza growing up as an unconditional lover - in her wildness not unlike the daughter of a large landowner who is friends of a large landowner, who runs through with a newly wealthy mine owner through the intermediary of the missionary. While the wedding candidate chosen by the adoptive mother falls in love with herself instead of her ward , Eliza loses her innocence to a radical-thinking but penniless young employee of her uncle, who soon follows the call of gold to California, unwittingly leaving her pregnant.

She follows him as a stowaway in the belly of a sailing ship, supported by the former ship's cook of her adoptive mother's second brother, a Chinese and a widowed naturopath. He helps her about a miscarriage and accompanies her - even on the hunt for luck - into the interior of the gold rush country. Since being a woman means the same thing here as a girl of pleasure , Eliza appears as a youth. In search of her lover, she carries out a wide variety of activities and, after her Chinese companion returns to the coast, she finds employment as a pianist in a hiking brothel . Meanwhile it turns out that the second brother of Eliza's adoptive mother is her father. As the captain of a steamship , on behalf of the daughter of the landowner who ran away with the mine owner, he brings ice-packed food from Chile to California, where he meets the missionary who has since become a journalist . Among other things, he researches the story of Eliza's lover, who is said to have become the leader of a predatory rebel troop. With the onset of “civilization” of the “Wild West”, the hiking brothel is increasingly dissolving into respectability, and Eliza, still in men's clothing, once again joins the Chinese doctor.

In San Francisco she helps him rehabilitate Asian child prostitutes. Her Chilean family has since believed that she was dead for a long time. When evidence emerges to corroborate the opposite, her adoptive mother prepares for a trip to California. There, in the meantime, Eliza is putting on women's clothes again for her Chinese friend for the first time. News arrives that the leader of the predatory rebel force has been killed and beheaded by the authorities. Eliza goes to see the head on display with the Chinese doctor. When the doctor asks if she recognizes her lover in it, she replies without letting go of his hand that she is now free.

success

The book was number 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list for 22 weeks in 1999 and 2000 .

Others

Isabel Allende herself commented on the protagonist Eliza as follows: "Eliza's journey represents what has happened to us women: We had to take off our corsets and 'masculinize' ourselves, and then return to our women's clothes - this time without a corset!"

Fortuna's daughter can be understood as the prehistory of the world bestseller The Haunted House . This is where the roots are laid, from which the actions and contents of the haunted house will later be conceived.